The Yankees utility players, Ronald
Torreyes (0.3 WAR), Tyler Wade (-0.1 WAR) and Neil Walker (-0.1 WAR) had a
combined WAR of .1 in 2018, and while they are all serviceable as utility
players or as players off the bench, this is an area where the Yankees could use
an upgrade in 2019.

Top ten moments of the Yankees' 2017 second half

The Yankees 2017 season was one for the history books, with almost every day producing memorable moments for the Bronx faithful. The Baby Bombers took over, sparking a deep postseason run that ended just one game shy of a World Series berth. This season was a wild ride that will be remembered for a long time, and as we wait for some big off-season moves, let’s look back at ten of the best moments of the second half of the season.

ESPN

10. A-Arons shows off his power and arm as Yankees storm back against Boston

8/11: The Bombers were trying to climb back from a 3.5 game deficit to the Boston Red Sox, and found themselves down 3-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth at the Stadium. After Brett Gardner was plunked by Addison Reed, Aaron Hicks sent a rocket over the right field wall, rounding first the left fielder enthusiastically celebrates, sparking what would be a five-run inning for the Yanks. Later in the game, Hicks gunned down former Yankee Eduardo Nunez trying to tag up to third, which would end up persevering a 5-4 win for New York.

YES Network

9. Brett Gardner walk-offs

7/27, 29: The Yankees were looking to stop the midseason skid, battling against the division rival Tampa Bay Rays the Bombers were able to force extra innings. Come the bottom of 11th, longtime Yankee outfielder Brett Gardner sent a frozen rope to right field, giving the Yankees a 6-5 win at home. Just two days later, Gardner gave the Yankees some more late-game heroics, driving home the winning run on an up the middle single to give the Yanks a 5-4 win. Yankee outfielder Clint Frazier even said about Brett Gardner, “He’s our captain, he’s got the clutch gene, man.”

Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports

8. Gary Double-Dinger day in Detroit

8/22: Gary Sanchez and the Yankees offense came alive in Detroit in late August, dropping 13 on the home team, punctuated by The Kraken’s two home runs, one measuring a colossal 493 ft. The Tigers players were pretty bitter after this beat down, because two days later….

MLB.com

7. The Brawl in Motown

8/24: The Tigers didn’t forget the chippy meeting in the Bronx in July and the last game of the Yankees trip to the motor city ended in fireworks. After Gary Sanchez practically became the new mayor of Detroit in this series, the Tigers sent a message to the Yankees catcher, beaning Sanchez in the fifth inning. The Yankees then fired back when Tommy Kahnle threw behind Detroit start Miguel Cabrera, ending in Kahnle and then Girardi, being ejected from the game. While Aroldis Chapman started to warm up, catcher Austin Romine and Cabrera started to exchange some less than kind words, resulting in the Detroit slugger throwing punches at Romine. The benches cleared and a full-blown brawl broke out, and that wouldn’t be the last time, as the benches cleared again later in the game. The Bombers would lose this game 6-3 and lose both their catchers for a couple of games later in the month.

SI.com

6. The 16-inning battle in Boston

7/15: Coming off the All-Star break, the Yankees headed to Boston for a critical series in the battle for the AL East. The Bombers just came off heartbreaking collapse only the night before and were stymied by Red Sox ace Chris Sale heading into the 9th inning trailing 1-0 when DH Matt Holiday sent a moonball off stud Boston closer Craig Kimbrel to send the game to extra innings. The game lasted all the way to the 16th inning until a three-run outburst from the Yankee offense to win the game 4-1.

Joe Wilcox

5. Thumbs down

9/11: The Yankees faced Tampa Bay in a not-so-away game at Citi Field during the height of the AL East Battle. The Bombers were up 2-1 in the fourth and were looking to close the game out early, and Todd Frazier was the man to do just that. The third baseman sent a three-run bomb to end any hope for a Rays comeback. However, that ended up becoming a side story when the YES camera crew found a George RR Martin lookalike in the stands showing his disapproval with a solemn thumbs down, and when the New York locker room got their hands on the video, it became a Yankee staple. The team changed from their usual finger guns celebrations to a thumbs down one, creating t-shirts and emoji craziness that helped define the Yankees postseason run.

SI.com

4. Judge puts exclamation point(s) on historic rookie season

9/25: You could make a whole list of just the larger than life Baby Bomber’s accolades in 2017, but his two home run day in late September will be the ones we all remember. The right fielder sent homers number 49 and 50 to break the MLB rookie homerun record set by Mark McGwire in 1986. The soft-spoken slugger would end up winning a unanimous AL ROY award and finish second to Jose Altuve in the AL MVP race.

Adam Hunger/Getty Images

3. ALCS Game Four

10/16: The Bombers were in a similar spot, down 2-1 to an AL juggernaut trying to hold down the fort in the Bronx. Facing an insurmountable 4-0 deficit in the bottom of the seventh, rookie slugger Aaron Judge sent a no-doubter into monument park for a solo shot, cutting the Astro lead to two. The next inning resulted in even more fireworks, a Brett Gardner RBI groundout, Judge RBI double, and go ahead double by Gary Sanchez gave the Yankees enough to seal a 6-4 win, tying the series at 2-2.

Getty Images

2.ALDS Game Five

10/11: Once again facing elimination, the Yankees were on the cusp of pulling off a gargantuan upset over the reigning AL Champion Cleveland Indians after trailing 2-0 to start the series. Didi Gregorius continued his postseason heroics homering in back to back at-bats to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead going into the fifth; the Indians roared back scoring two to cut the lead to just one. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Brett Gardner battled in a 12-pitch at-bat before scorching an RBI double to score two to give the Yankees some breathing room before closer Aroldis Chapman shut the door and sent the Yanks to the ALCS with a 5-2 win in Cleveland.

Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

1. AL Wild Card Game

10/3: The game started with about the worst case scenario with ace Luis Severino only lasting a third of the inning, allowing three runs in the first. Chad Green put out the fire to close out the first inning, and Didi Gregorius started his historic postseason with a stadium rocking three-run shot to tie the game at three. Green, Robertson, Khanle, and Chapman continued a stellar relief effort to give the Yankees 8 2/3 innings of one-run baseball, punctuated by home runs by Judge and Gardner gave the Yankees an incredible 8-4 win.

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The scene was set for the
young budding Bomber squad last fall after finishing their season a game away
from a World Series berth. They were the team that arrived a year too early,
and another deep playoff run would be the goal, but then an old friend threw a
wrench in those plans. Derek Jeter put gargantuan slugger Giancarlo Stanton on
the market, and Stanton dictated his transfer with a full no-trade clause. The
Giants and Cardinals among others threw their name into the ring, but who did
he choose? The Yankees and Dodgers, it seemed to be a battle of baseballs
powerhouses, but the Yankees had an advantage over their former neighbors,
payroll flexibility. They were able to use this into an absolute steal of the
reigning NL MVP, and the Yankees were thrust into a world series or bust year.
The season was historic, they set the season home run record without Gary
Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, and Aaron Judge for most if not all of the
year, but it ended in a bust at the hands of…

The
speculation started during the regular season, even prior to his trade from the
Baltimore Orioles to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Where would Manny Machado go upon
his free agency at the end of the 2018 regular season? And, with that, which
teams would be knocking on his door? No
sooner did the Yankees’ regular season come to a close after their fated ending
in the American League Division Series, the talks of Machado coming to the
Bronx took off as though pushed by a speeding 4 Train behind Yankee Stadium. The
truth of the matter is that the rumors started even prior to Machado’s free
agency being on the horizon -- they started
at the trade deadline.

Yankee fans are left with more questions than answers following Clint Frazier’s injury riddled 2018. Frazier suffered through concussion symptoms throughout his 2018 campaign, which saw him appear in 69 games between the minors and the big leagues. Now, Yankees fans wonder what 2019 will hold for the 24 year-old.

Miguel Andujar’s 2018
arrival in the big leagues on April 1st had been much anticipated by Yankee
fans and we were rewarded with a Rookie of the Year performance by one of the
most exciting players in all of Major League Baseball.

Corey Kluber is the difference
maker and impact arm the Yankees need atop their rotation. In 2017 and
2018, Yankee fans wished ace-like status on Luis Severino, but his
inconsistencies have left him just short of owning the name. Kluber, 32,
has been the definition of consistent for the Cleveland Indians, winning 18+
games four out of the last five years and winning 20 games in 2018 for the
first time in his career. Kluber has posted an ERA below 3.50 every season
since 2014, and has struck out at least 220 hitters in the same span. Kluber
keeps getting better, and is not showing any signs of regression. Kluber is an
ace, the ace the Yankees need.

There’s
no easy way to answer this question. Or, rather, there’s no one answer. The
surrounding factors change, creating different situations and, as such,
different fits -- both from a financial and from a team standpoint. A case can
be made to bring back either of these free agents, or both of them, or…
neither. But it’s almost impossible to make a blanket answer that fits in every
possible scenario.

It
felt like a shoe-in. So much so, in fact, that I advocated
for what I thought was the inevitable all the way back in September, before the
BBWAA even announced the nominees for American League Rookie of the Year.

First acquired in a relatively
small-time, 40-man sell-off move around this time last year that sent 1B
Garrett Cooper and LHP Caleb Smith to Miami, Michael King was seen as a young
right hander with promise, but one still years away from making any significant
Major League impact.At the time, the
important part of that trade was the $250,000 international bonus pool money
Miami included, which we all thought was to be used on Shohei Ohtani.Ohtani, obviously, never ended up in the Bronx
and will not pitch at all in 2019 after undergoing offseason Tommy John
Surgery.

Flashback to July 3rd -
the Mariners had just won their eighth consecutive game, putting them 20 games
above .500 and in possession of the third-best record in baseball. Everything
was going right in Seattle, and it surely seemed as if the M’s infamous 17-year
playoff drought would finally come to an end. Just two and a half months later
on September 22nd, the Mariners were eliminated from playoff contention,
following a dreadful summer slump and the concurrent surge of the
division-rival Athletics.

I
cannot count the number of times I tweeted about the Yankees and their problem
with RISP and situational offense over the course of the 2018 season. Of
course, the Yankees won 100 games on the regular season, and that statistic is
nothing to sniff at. They also claimed the single-season home run record. And
that’s great.